IND vs AUS: Why is Ishan Kishan is Not Playing Today’s India vs Australia 1st Test? Who is India Wicket Keeper?

Published on: Feb 9, 2023 9:42 am IST|Updated on: Feb 9, 2023 9:58 am IST

Ishan Kishan IND vs AUS 2023
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Ishan Kishan IND vs AUS: In an important news update, India are not playing wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan in this opening Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 against Australia at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. Rishabh Pant’s horror car accident has opened a massive hole in the Indian Test side for the wicket-keeper batsman’s role especially for this four-match Test series against Australia at home. India surely need to win this Test series in order to book a berth in this year’s ICC World Test Championship final.

IND vs AUS: Why is Ishan Kishan is Not Playing Today’s India vs Australia 1st Test? Who is India Wicket Keeper?

During the toss, India’s captain Rohit Sharma stated that KS Bharat is making his Test debut as the wicket-keeper batsman in this opening Test match against Australia in Nagpur. This also means that Ishan Kishan will have to wait for his Test debut and currently warm the bench. Incidentally, KS Bharat has been second wicket-keeper in the India Test squad for a while now and also kept wickets as a substitute keeper during the Kanpur Test in 2022. In 86 first-class games, Bharat has scored over 4700 runs at an average of close to 40 that consists of 27 fifties and 9 hundreds. On the other hand, Ishan has smashed close to 3000 first-class runs from 48 matches that includes 16 half-centuries and 6 hundreds. However, this is a big opportunity for KS Bharat and it will not be easy to keep wickets on the Indian spin-friendly pitches especially for the trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.

“We would have batted too. Looks pretty dry. There will be help for spinners. We got to wait and see how much it does. Yesterday when we started training we did see some seam movement for the pacers up front. We have had a good prep for the last 5-6 days. We trained on the aspects in store. This is a big one. We know the importance of the series but we also understand it’s about winning one session at a time. It’s a long series. Three spinners, two seamers, Bharat and Suryakumar Yadav are debuting,” said India captain Rohit Sharma during the toss.

India Playing 11

1. Rohit Sharma (C)
2. KL Rahul
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Virat Kohli
5. Suryakumar Yadav
6. Ravindra Jadeja
7. KS Bharat (wk)
8. Axar Patel
9. Ravichandran Ashwin
10. Mohammed Shami
11. Mohammed Siraj

India vs Australia 2023 Schedule

DateFormatMatchesTimeVenueResult
9 – 13 February, 20231st TestIndia vs Australia9:30 AM ISTNagpur
17 – 21 February, 20232nd TestIndia vs Australia9:30 AM ISTDelhi
1 – 5 March, 20233rd TestIndia vs Australia9:30 AM ISTDharamsala
9 – 13 March, 20234th TestIndia vs Australia9:30 AM ISTAhmedabad
17 March, 20231st ODIIndia vs Australia10 AM ISTMumbai
19 March, 20232nd ODIIndia vs Australia10 AM ISTVisakhapatnam
22 March, 20233rd ODIIndia vs Australia10 AM ISTChennai
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